Kiss of the Dragon is a 2001 martial
artsaction
film, directed by Chris Nahon and starring Jet Li. The film was made in
response to Li's fans requesting more realistic fight scenes,[2]
and is notable as most of the action sequences did not use CGI or
wire work; only two scenes
required CGI enhancement and only one scene involved wire work.[3]
Wire work was also added to one of the last fight sequences between
Li and Cyril
Raffaelli, only to add clarity to Raffaelli's kicks, as he was
moving too fast for the camera. Nahon was also required to slow
down this fight scene, as both Li and Raffaelli moved too quickly
to be captured clearly at normal recording speed.[2]
The film is actually based on a story by Li.[3]

Contents

Plot

Liu Siu-jian (Jet Li), a Chinese intelligence agent, is sent
and assigned to Paris to help
apprehend Chinese mob boss
Mr. Big (Ric Young), who is involved in heroin smuggling. He meets Inspector Jean-Pierre
Richard (Tchéky
Karyo), a corrupt and violent French police detective, at a hotel. Richard tricks Liu into believing he is
simply providing reconnaissance of a meet involving Mr. Big. The
plans are changed when Mr. Big is introduced to two prostitutes,
one being Jessica Kamen (Bridget Fonda), an American woman, who
take him to his room to service him. Mr. Big was so hungry for
sexual pleasure that he would only allow his henchmen to check his
room for one minute. Jessica was not comfortable but her co worker
encourages her. The prostitute began to strip and played the song,
"Shake Your Ass." The first prostitute first removes her black
trench coat and dances in her red silky oriental mini-dress. She
empties her cocaine on the coffee table and strips off her dress,
revealing to be wearing black lacy lingerie with black fishnet
pantyhose. Jessica finally strips off her coat and reveals to be
wearing a turquoise mini dress with black sheer pantyhose. While
Liu and the rest were watching through the surveillance camera, Mr.
Big kicks everyone out except for the two prostitutes, While the
prostitute is on top of Mr. Big, she attempts to murder him.
Witnessing the events from a surveillance room, Liu rushes to stop
the prostitute. Richard enters shortly later, only to shoot Mr. Big
and the prostitute with Liu's police-issue handgun, framing Liu for the murders.

Realizing he has been set up, Liu manages to escape from the
hotel with a surveillance tape showing Richard shooting Mr. Big.
Chinese liaisons are sent to France after the
events to investigate the matter, as Richard makes Liu the primary
suspect. However, the liaisons do not believe the story Richard
provides. Liu manages to contact one of the liaisons, in an attempt
to pass on the tape to reveal the truth. Due to French police
surveillance, the meet between the liaison and Liu is spotted, and
the liaison is assassinated. During Liu's escape, he loses the tape
in the chaos, and is forced to maintain a low profile.

As he thinks over his situation, he meets Jessica, whose
daughter was kidnapped by Richard to force her into prostitution.
Liu discovers Jessica was the second prostitute at the hotel during
the night of Mr. Big's murder. He realizes she can prove his
innocence, but she refuses to go without her retrieving her
daughter, Isabel. Liu decides the tape would provide the best
evidence, and sends Jessica to Richard's office to steal the tape.
Jessica manages to get the tape, so Liu and Jessica head to an
orphanage where Isabel is kept. However, Richard anticipates this
move after discovering Jessica has stolen the tape, and ambushes
the couple at the orphanage. During their escape, Jessica is shot
in the chest. Liu manages to get her to the hospital in time, and
becomes driven to retrieve her daughter. Liu arrives at the police
station where Richard is holding Isabel hostage, and fights his way through Richard's
henchmen to his office. Once at the office,
Liu rescues Isabel, getting shot by Richard in the process. To save
Isabel, Liu kills Richard by sticking an acupuncture needle at the back of Richard's
neck, in a forbidden location known as the "kiss of the dragon,"
which stimulates all the body's blood to travel to the brain to
cause a painful death via a brain aneurysm. Liu survives the gunshot wound, and returns Jessica's
daughter back to her mother.

Origin of
Title

The title "Kiss of the Dragon" is derived from one of the last
scenes in the movie, in which Liu punctures Richard in the back of
the neck with an acupuncture needle at a "very forbidden" point on
the body. The puncture itself is called "kiss of the dragon", which
traps all the body's blood in the head, causing side effects of quadriplegia and
bleeding from the head's orifices, and a painful death via a brain
aneurysm.

This killing method was featured in the climactic scene of the
1970s science fiction novel The Face, by Jack Vance. However, in
that novel, the needle bore a poison which caused the death.

It was also referenced in another martial arts movie, DOA:
Dead or Alive, when the protagonist, Princess Kasumi, pierces a needle into the
same spot on the villain, Donovan. Donovan also suffers paralysis,
but perishes in an explosion before the full effects are
observed.